Ellen Adarna’s grandfather builds the temple for his late wife.
Ellen Adarna’s grandpa, Teodorico Adarna, builds a temple for his wife Leah Villa Albino-Adarna who passed away because of lung cancer in 2012 at the age 69.
The said temple is situated at Brgy. Busay, Cebu based on a report in PEP. The structure is named Temple of Leah and it is the symbol of Teodorico’s undying love and devotion for Leah.
Its story is similar to the story behind the well-known building Taj Mahal of India.
The temple has a 9-foot bronze statue of Leah, a symbol for her royalty and undeniable grace when she was crowned as the Matron Queen of her Alma Mater, the University of Southern Philippines. The statue costs P4m based on the report.
Ellen Adarna posted a picture of her with her mother together with her grandma’s bronze statue of which the caption includes hashtags “grandma, mama, me and three generations.”
According to Teodorico, Ellen’s grandmother is a collector of books, vases, ceramic statues, and souvenirs of the couple’s travels.
“For her travelling is buying something,” he added during his interview with CNN.
The temple contains her collection of books and it will serve as the repository of his wife’s possessions.
With regards to the total amount of money that he has utilized for the building of the structure, Adarna could not anymore give the exact amount.
The locals said that the temple has been attracting a lot of tourists not just in the Philippines but also foreigners coming from the different parts of the world.
Greek’s Parthenon, is the inspiration for constructing the temple. Adarna, an engineer by heart, began the temple’s construction in year 2013 and his target date to complete the whole of the temple is year 2020.
Adarna said, “When I’m gone. everyone will forget me. But when they see this they will remember me so as my wife.”